Congress To Vote On The Conscience Protection Act—Another Abortion-Restricting TRAP Law

Today, Congress will vote on a bill that could have wide implications for women seeking abortions, even in facilities that legally offer them. The bill, called the Conscience Protection Act, would allow health service providers to refuse involvement in abortions without getting financially penalized. Which isn't great, to say the least.

So what's actually going on in the bill? For starters, the Conscience Protection Act is a TRAP law (TRAP stands for Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers), meaning if passed, it could severely limit women's abortion access. The act would allow health service providers—everyone from doctors and insurance agents, right down to administrative assistants—to refuse to provide or cover abortions without any real penalty. Right now, if health service providers in some states (like California) refuse to be involved in abortions, they face financial penalties. If they have a problem with this, they can file a complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services. But if the Conscience Protection Act is passed, these providers would be able to refuse involvement and defend their right to do so in a civil suit.

This bill was raised by Republican members of the House of Representatives after California mandated coverage for elective abortions under the Affordable Care Act in 2014. These House members felt that this requirement broke the Weldon Amendment, which prohibits federal funding recipients from discriminating against health care providers who refuse to participate in health care services on religious or moral grounds. They say the mandate "violated their consciences," and they're arguing for that to stop. Despite the fact that the Department of Health and Human Services already upheld California's mandate in June—saying its passing didn't violate any religious freedom laws—Congress will hear yet another challenge to this decision today with the Conscience Protection Act.

Those fighting against the bill understand how harmful this could be to women and their access to reproductive health care. "They’re calling it 'conscience protection,'" the National Women's Law Center said in a statement. "We’re calling it out for what it really is: an attack on access to abortion that could harm women’s health. [The bill] would allow health care providers claiming to protect religious liberty to refuse patient access to critical reproductive health services, including abortion." NARAL Pro-Choice America broke it down even further, explaining that the act "would even allow an administrative assistant to refuse to schedule you for an appointment if he disagreed with your choice to have an abortion." That's obviously incredibly problematic.

The Conscience Protection Act is yet another TRAP Law—and yet another assault on our constitutional right to access necessary and legal reproductive health care services. It's not up to someone else to decide what you can and cannot do with your body, and it's not fair to deprive anyone of access to legal health care services they need and deserve.